Amen. Well, if you have your Bible open, please, at Revelation 22, we'll focus on those verses that we read together tonight. Revelation 22, and that's all by a word of prayer again this evening. Our Lord and our God, what can we say? It is good to be found in the house of God. Lord, we could be doing other things wrongly. We could, Lord, be drifting away from the house of God. We could be indulging in entertainment or worldly pursuits, and it just wouldn't do us good. Chasing shadows, drinking from broken cisterns, But Lord, tonight we come to consider the most excellent of all studies, that of our God and Thy Word and what it has pleased Thee to lay up for Thy people in the life hereafter. Heavenly Father, we're conscious that as we do meet here, there are souls Some infamous, some well-known or town who has passed away in recent days and weeks, some saved, some with a good clear testimony, some away home to this glory. Others, Lord, have lived in rebellion against thee, indulging in sin, and are now already suffering in torment like the rich man. who opened his eyes and was in torment. And we find no delight in the death of the wicked. We find no occasion of celebrating when we hear of those leaving the day of grace to enter the eternal condemnation. Oh Lord, we pray that all men would consider their latter end and where they will spend eternity, not trusting in false religion, but trusting in the prophet, priest, and king, the Lord Jesus Christ. Be with us now tonight, we come to consider a beautiful portion. The light our souls now, in Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen. The Revelation chapter 20 that we looked at a couple of weeks ago, solemnly informs us, the readers, of the results and the eternal states of those who die outside of Christ. Look with me here at the verse 13, Revelation 20, 13. The sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them. And they were judged every man according to their works, and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Sad verse, sad chapter, and a real experience or multitudes of souls. But when we leave chapter 20, we move into 21, which refreshingly presents now the eternal situation of the believer. The person who has called upon the Lord, the person who has faith in Christ, the one who in this life can say that Jesus is my saviour, all to him I owe. My salvation is based not upon my works, Not even a wee bit of my works, but all upon Christ. He is the way, the truth, and the life. And though Revelation 21 painted the picture of the new heaven and the new earth, the bride of Christ described like a city. And she is said to be thoroughly beautiful. And in that city, no tears, no death, no sorrow, no crying, and absolutely no more pain. We saw there something of the accessibility of the city with the 12 gates. with the people of God written on the gates, the foundation built upon the truth and the doctrine of the apostles. All the stones mentioned there, it was beautiful, it was excellent. There's no temple there in verse 22 because Christ will be there. The nations will be there, but there'll be no one whose name is not written in the Lamb's Book of Life. No sinners. No unrepentant sinners. Chapter 22 continues now to describe for us the experience of the believer and in the most beautiful of terms. Chapter 21 can be seen definitely to describe the bride. Chapter 22 looks to me to be describing the place now. The place. Look with me at verse one. We read there of a river, pure, blemishless, glorious. In verse two, we read of the tree of life that was there. In verse four, we read of the people seeing the Lord face to face. Now, you read those three details, where else in the Bible do you get all three? We are now in the last chapter of the Bible. Will you turn with me for a moment to the first chapter of the Bible, Genesis 1. I want to actually take you to the next chapter, but Genesis 1 records that in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. You have all the days of creation as they are listed there and what God did. Then when you come to chapter 2, chapter 2 is more specific and we see certain parts of creation in more detail like the creation of man, but also we see Eden. with me in chapter 2 then of Genesis in verse 8. And the Lord God planted a garden, a beautiful garden, a remarkable garden planted by God. And we read here that it was eastward in Eden. Eden was a large place. And there he puts the man whom he had formed. So out of all the heavens and all the earth, he planted Adam right in the middle of this garden in Eden, the most splendid place, the best place. Verse nine, and out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight. and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads, and so on and so forth there. But again, there you have Eden. I suppose the first thing that strikes you there is There's two trees, and why did the Lord plant these two trees right in the very vicinity that Adam was planted? And we know the answer to that, don't we? You see, the tree of knowledge of good and evil was there as a test to prove Adam. Would he continue to love the Lord, or would he choose to pursue sin? And of course, the devil came, tempted him, and he chose to pursue fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And the world fell into the curse. But look at Eden here. It's got the river. It's got the trees. The Lord's in the garden. So what do we have in Revelation chapter 22? It clearly, and blindingly obviously, is the Lord taking paradise. The Lord takes Eden and he paints a picture of Eden in its beauty, and he gives us that as an illustration of what the experience of the saint will be in life hereafter. Now, what I'm not saying tonight is that when the world melts down, this world, he's going to replace us just in another Eden. I believe strongly that Revelation 22 makes it clear that is not what the Lord has prepared for his people. We're not going back to Eden. We have something far greater. What I am saying is the Lord is taking Eden as a picture to help us understand what the experience of the believer will be like. So read with me then these illustrations. Revelation 22 in the verse 1. We have this river. There was a river, a great river, of course, in Eden. It flowed from Eden. Its source was there. It watered the earth. Well, Revelation 22 verse 1, and he showed me a pure river of water. And if God is describing something as pure, it is pure, okay? Showed John a pure picture. And he showed me a pure river of water of life. clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. So just picture that in your head for a moment there. The throne of God, but it's not just the throne of God, is it? This is a new era. This is the throne of God and of the Lamb. Like I said to you before, this is more like a pew. where you have God and you have Jesus Christ, God's lamb, God's sacrificial offering, God's substitute for us, and they're on the throne because the lamb is God incarnate. So here you have, from this throne, there flows a water, a river. Can I say, water is a beautiful picture. Water is indispensable, of course, for human life. Without water, you'll not live. The average... I understand, roughly, I think the average human body is made up of more than 60% water, which often baffles my mind. How can we be over half of our body? It's near three quarters, I think, of our body is made of water, incredibly. That's why you need to drink and be refreshed for that very reason. Water is refreshing, it's good for us. In developed countries like the UK, water is very much, well, it's not given the prominence that it perhaps earned. It's taken for granted, genuinely. We have all the water in abundance, certainly, in our wee country here in Northern Ireland. But when you go to countries like Let's say Uganda, where our mission station is there. Water is a very precious commodity, it really is. If you were with us many years ago in the prayer meeting, when we were over there, remember how there was a well that was bored for the kids there. And we showed you those videos at that time of the children walking from our mission station where the school is, walking down that steep hill. If you can imagine the middle of Bray here, it's probably not far away. If you go to the bottom of the middle of Bray, and you walk the whole way up and a wee bit more. You do that on bare feet, no tarmac, no footpath, all the nettles and everything else the whole way up. And when you get there, although it's the other way down, you're going down the hill, and then you fill your gallon drum with green water. The water was disgusting. As missionaries, we could not have drank it. We would have been ill. But the children were there, and they would fill up their gallon drums, put it in their head, or one each hand, and try to struggle back up the hill. And for some of them, that journey was maybe three times per day, depending on the size of the family. And so they couldn't have an education. because they're too busy carrying water. And so for them, water was a real precious blessing to receive. When the well was put in, the kids were not running to the tap. They didn't run to the tap. They ran to the pipeline just to hear the water gushing through it. And then when we showed what the tap can do, they were really impressed. And of course, thoroughly enjoyed the water. Water is precious. And certainly, in the days when the Bible was written, when the waterworks that we have today didn't exist, if you were to find a city that had a river running through it, that's where you want to live. Because that would be good for the farmers, for the crops, for you to be refreshed, for hygiene. And here you have God's Word taking the idea of a magnificent place with a river running right through it. Very desirable. And the emphasis here is of refreshment, of life, of vitality. For where there's water, there is life. That's the idea. But I want you to see that this water is not bursting out of some natural spring. It's coming from the throne of God. The illustration here is kind of like, remember when the Lord took the wee boy's lunchbox and he took the five loaves and two fishes and he began to dispense of the fish and the bread and he just kept on going and going and going. It wasn't that the bread and the fish was growing, it was the fact that Christ was creating fish and bread. And that's the idea here from the throne. The Lord is creating this river. Every drop, here's the illustration, every drop of this is proceeding from God's throne. There's not some pipeline behind the throne. There's not some spring under the throne. He is creating it. Refresh the people. Now remember, this is just an illustration. It's a picture. I'm not saying you have to take it literally. We were singing here, of course, about, earlier on there, about meeting up the river. And that's fine if we're using biblical language and we're using this illustration that God used to describe heaven. But men and women be thrilled at this because the idea is that from God and from the Lamb is your refreshment, is your life, is everything you need. When you're in heaven, there'll be no need on that. He's there to provide it all, and it's coming from God and from the Lamb, your Creator and your Savior. Go on to verse 2 here. Okay, actually before we leave verse 1, just for one minute, go back with me please to John 4. Just stay with the river of life here for a moment. Go to John 4. I forgot to mention this. I want to do this before we leave. John chapter 4. Because here you have Christ. And you know the sin, don't you? He's speaking to the woman at the well. She, a woman who knew what it was to be habitually living in sin with no remorse or shame. And the Lord met her on his own at the well in an open public space. But at that time, there was no other individual there. And remember what transpired. Come with me to verse 17. They are talking about water. And the woman, verse 17, answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband, for thou hast had five husbands. Verse 19, The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. She's understanding that this man standing before her is no ordinary man. Now that's important, because in previous verses, look what the Lord said. Go back to verse 10. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, at that point she didn't know, although she did near the end of the conversation, give me to drink. Thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee, what? Living water. Here's why I want you to turn to that for a moment here. In Revelation 22, We read there of a water, a river of life. Same idea, the river of life. And we see that as being future. We're going to enter into heaven and there we'll draw from the water of life. But men and women, the word of God is very clear that life begins now in heaven. What you're seeing is God giving to you your refreshment and your life, eternal life. That's not something, you and I are designed to draw life from God, satisfaction from him. Everything else that we run to is nothing more than glitter. Glitter when you see it looks very dazzling and sparkly and nice but there's nothing to it, it can't refresh you. It doesn't do you any good whatsoever. You can't eat it, you can't really enjoy it. It's a fleeting enjoyment for a second that's gone, it's irrelevant to you. But the Lord says I can give you the living water. Stay with me on that for a moment here. Go to John chapter 7. John 7 and the verse 37. John 7, 37. In the last... day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come on to me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. There's the same language again. It's flowing into us. It's flowing out of us. God is pleased to use his people. Verse 39, But this spake he of the Spirit. He's describing the Spirit of God, which they that believe on him should receive. For the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified. And the point being made here, this is God. And the water is an illustration of God giving you life. It's the spirit of God. It's the Lord himself filling you, refreshing you, delighting you. God designed you to be fulfilled with him. And he's the one who gives you eternal life and he's the one that satisfies you. Now come then to the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 21 and the verse 6. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. You have our text about this river of life. And then you come to chapter 22 and the verse 17. And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. Let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. You can enjoy the water now. That's the idea. You can enjoy the water now, being satisfied by God filling you, blessing you. Moving on here then in Revelation 22 verse 2. Let's go to verse 2 now of chapter 22 and we read, in the midst of the street of it. I take that to be the city which is mentioned before. In the midst of the street and on either side of the river. was there the tree of life. And we have the river of life a moment ago, and here you have the tree of life, which bear 12 manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And again, if you can picture that in your head, and you couldn't fully picture it, but if you can get something of a river proceeding from the throne of God, and then you see this tree of life, It reminds you of Eden, doesn't it? Obviously. But there's one thing missing that was in Eden. In Eden, there was the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. But it's not here. In this heavenly picture, this heavenly Eden that God describes for us, there is no test. No more trials. That's all done. It's all over. And that delights my soul. We'll not be sorry to come to the end of our tests and trials. But there is the tree of life. The same tree of life you will remember that God sets the angel and the flaming sword to seal it so that Adam and Eve nor no one else can eat of the tree of life. No one can get to it. But now in heaven, full access given to the tree of life to enjoy it. But look how the tree is described here. It's so beautiful. It says here, the tree of life, which bear 12 matter of fruits and yielded her fruit every month. What a tree. The idea here is that for a full year, year in, year out, every month, the fruits there satisfy, delight you. I think it's interesting that it's called the tree of life. The Bible could be described as a book of trees. At the very beginning, we read of the tree of knowledge of good and evil that brought in the curse. Then we read in 1 Peter, just actually for a second, go to 1 Peter. Remember we read this a few weeks ago, 1 Peter 2, and the verse 24, isn't it? Okay, 1 Peter 2, and the verse 24, who, referring to Jesus Christ, his own self bear or sins, this is 1 Peter 2, 24, bear or sins in his own body on the tree. that we being dead to sins should live on to righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed. Here we read now of another tree. It's the cross. It's Calvary. And at this tree, Jesus died, and by that he borne our sins, and by that his stripes heal us. Now, go to Revelation 22. And here you have This final tree mentioned in the Bible, the tree of life. And isn't it interesting, like I said, the same word is used to describe the cross. The tree where he bled and died. But look at this tree. Yes, it's bearing fruit every month. But read the end of verse 2. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And we just read in 1 Peter that on Christ's tree, There was healing. By his stripes we are healed. Is that describing Christ? Is that tree there a picture of the Lord? That we will come to the Lord? There's time mentioned, there's no time in heaven. All right? But this is like coming to the Lord month after month, year after year, and we're drawing fresh fruit. We're receiving our fresh manna. There's always something to satisfy the soul. We'll never be weary in heaven. Never be bored. Never be lost for splendor and enjoyment, for the Lord is there. So move on then to verse three. Again, we're told of something that is not there. Praise God. And there shall be no more curse. No more curse. There was a curse in Eden, wasn't there? An awful curse. But there's no curse in this Eden. That's why I'm saying to you, we are not going back to Eden. This is way better than Eden. No tree of knowledge of good and evil, and there's no curse. Can I tell you why there's no curse? Because the devil's not there. Where's the devil? We're looking here at Eden, the heavenly Eden. You go back and I'll tell you where the devil is. Revelation 20. Here's where he is in the verse 10. Revelation 20, 10. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever." That's where the devil is. He'll not be tempting. He'll not be deceiving. He'll not be whispering sin in your ear. He won't be there. He's damned. He's locked up. He's gone! And we'll never even sense. Just imagine that. Never to sense again the presence of the devil. No more sin, no more curse. You know, Revelation 20, verse 10, is the last time you read of the devil. You haven't read about him again. That's good stuff. That's good. For when we enter into heaven, he'll not be our troubler. He'll not be our bother then. Go back to chapter 22. There's the river of life, refreshing and good for us. There is the tree that provides its fruit every single month, always there to satisfy you. Verse three, there's no more curse. In verse four, it's as clear as could be. And they shall see his face and his name shall be in their foreheads. will see the Lord face to face. I think that's mighty. I think that's genuinely mighty. If I can give you an illustration of seeing the Lord face to face. Remember when the Lord was crucified, there were the two disciples who were walking to a mess. And they were cast down and they were Just know that themselves. And then the Lord, in his glorified state, at least in some form of his glorified state, walked beside them. And those two men said their hearts burned within them. They were thrilled as they walked with the Lord. And when they got to their journey's end, all they were concerned about was the Lord continuing with them. They were so satisfied just with the Lord's presence. That's what heaven will be like. Just walking with the Lord. We'll see him face to face. You won't need Facebook then. Praise the Lord. I'll not miss it. We'll see him in person and talk with him and rejoice in that. The one who was crucified for us, we can praise him in all his glory. Go then to verse number five. Verse number five tells us that there's no night there. And they need no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord giveth them lights, and they shall reign forever and ever. And again, this is better than Eden. Because in Eden, God made the sun and the moon. The Lord made the stars for Adam and Eve before the fall. But what the Lord is saying in this picture, when John sees this animation before him, he recognizes, hang on a minute, there's no sun in the sky, there's no stars, no moon. This is not Eden. But it has resemblances to Eden. It's better. Better. And why is there no candle there? It's because the Lord is there. Light radiates from Him. This whole chapter is all about the Lord. The river of life flows from the Lord. This tree, it is the Lord who's always refreshing. The curse won't be there because Christ has banished it. He has completely undone everything the devil did and more. We will see the Lord face to face. No light bearers required because the Lord is there. That's the word I'm looking forward to, men and women. Heaven with Christ. As I've given you the illustration before, when you go to see a friend, I mean a genuine friend, you might go to that friend and, you know, you might talk to them about their house, you might talk to them about their furniture, you might do that, but you don't go to see their furniture. You don't go to see their gates. You don't go to see the colour of the footpath. You don't go to see the colour of their windows. You go because the friends there. And heaven's the same. That's why men and women, that God doesn't give us a detailed description of what heaven looks like. That's not the issue. It's the one we're going to see. As we draw near to the end of Revelation, we're not just there yet, but we're almost there, you might come to the end of this book and be filled with questions. But I want to hasten to remind you, Revelation wasn't given to give you all the answers. The Bible doesn't anywhere give a clear, definite description and detail of exactly what heaven's like, and I think that's because we couldn't grasp it anyway. But what you have here is pictures and illustrations, thoughts and little truths. We can put them all together and we begin to get a sense that it's awesome. Like the child, maybe the next day it's their birthday and you begin to give them little clues as to what their presents are and just filled with excitement. We've been told when we give presents to our children, it's going to be physical objects that are like glitter. Satisfies for a wee while, but heaven will satisfy us forever. And I conclude by taking you to verse number seven. Verse seven, behold. So there's something very important about to be said now. with all that has been said, the splendors of heaven and everything else. Now listen, behold, I come quickly. I come quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. And that's a very helpful verse for a couple of reasons, but number one, We have read this book, and like I said a moment ago, we might have lots of questions. How's the Lord going to do all this? How's the Lord going to bring about all these judgments? How's the Lord going to deal with the devil? What's Armageddon going to look like? What's this beast exactly going to appear like? And you can come to the end of the book and think, I don't really understand all of this. And that's the point of verse seven. Don't you worry about it all. The Lord's working it out. He knows what he's doing. He's just giving you a wee bit of an insight to comfort you and to encourage you so that you know He's in the throne. He's bringing it all about. But here's the one responsibility you do have. Verse 7. Keep the book. Keep the sayings. Obey the Bible. Obey what this book says to you concerning your walk before God. repent, believe the gospel. Make the Lord your king and your saviour. Don't hold on to your sin, but hold on to Christ. Rather, Christ is the one who holds on to you. So tonight as we conclude here, I want to ask you, are you keeping the sayings of this book? Just run back to the beginning of Revelation for me please. I'll show you some of these things that we ought to keep. Revelation chapter 2 here deals with the literal churches in that day. There were seven churches that the Lord wrote to. That's how the beginning of the book commences. It gets deeper and deeper as we work through it. Now this seems like a long time ago we studied these verses but Revelation chapter 2 And the verse 7, He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh, overcomes lethargy, coldness, ungodliness, will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. There you have it in chapter 2, it's telling you. You overcome. You don't pursue sin, but rather you live for Christ. You get the tree of life as the prize. Look at, again, chapter 2 and the verse 11. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death, but rather he'll have eternal life. Look at verse 17. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it. Go with me then to verse 28. And I will give him the morning star. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Listen to the Spirit of God. Read what the Spirit of God has moved these pen men to write for all learning and obey it. And the reward is the paradise of God. The heavenly Eden, the greater than Eden. There's no more sin. And so for the saint, certainly for the saints in John's day, this would have been encouraging. But can you imagine how encouraging this was for John? By the way, It also said previously, there's no more sea there. No more sea. And that's significant because where was John? John was stuck in the middle of an island. He was banished to isolation. We all know what isolation feels like. But isolation completely on your own on a prison island. What a delight for John to be able to write, there's no more sea in heaven. I can walk to fellowship with the people of God. I can walk to be with the Lord. But what there is, men and women, is a great gulf. A great gulf fixed between those who are in the paradise of God and those who are in the lake of fire. A great gulf that no man can travel from one to the other. That's reassuring for the child of God. Because we know once we enter into paradise, we're there to stay. There's no hole that we can fall out of to end up in the lake of fire. There's no escalator going down. There's no elevator going down. You're there and that's it. You're sealed in forevermore, praise God. We're not like Adam and Eve who could fall again, won't happen. But likewise, for those who are lost, there's no ladder to get out. There's no rocket to propel you out of hell into heaven. The gulf thing is. And so tonight again, as we think about the heaven that awaits the people of God, will you be there? Will you see the Lord face to face? Will you be able to tell the story saved by grace? Now is the day to prepare. Now is the day to be ready. The ticket for salvation, heaven has found the cross. where Jesus bled and died. Take your hymn books. 235.